Astroblog

Obscured by Clouds. The rough and ready blog of a cloud benighted biologist and amateur astronomer. Astroblog will cover my interests in astronomy, biology and Life, the Universe and Everything.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The Sky This Week - Thursday October 2 to Thursday October 9

The Full Moon is Wednesday October 8, there is a total Lunar Eclipse at this time. Mercury is still easily visible. Mars climbs the body of the Scorpion. Saturn is low in the evening sky. Jupiter
becomes more prominent in the morning sky. Comets everywhere!

The Full Moon is Wednesday October 8. There is a total Lunar Eclipse in the early evening. Daylight saving time starts October 5.

Eastern horizon as seen from Adelaide on 8 October at 8:09 pm ACDST . The eclipse is just starting. Click to embiggen.

On the evening of 8 October there will be a total eclipse of the Moon. The 8 October eclipse occurs shortly after Moonrise in the eastern and central states, in Western Australia the Moon rises with the eclipse under-way and totality occurs during nautical twilight. This is the best Lunar eclipse until 2018.

For the East Coast Moon Rise is around 6:36 pm,the eclipse begins at 7:15 pm AEST, maximum eclipse is at 8:55 pm, total eclipse ends at 9:25 pm and the eclipse finishes at 10:35 pm AEST (daylight savings starts on Oct 5 for those states that use it).

For the Central states Moon Rise is around 6:15 pm (see twilight/sunset calculator below), the eclipse begins at 6:45 pm ACST, maximum eclipse is at 8:25 pm, total eclipse ends at 8:55 pm and the eclipse finishes at 10:05 pm.

Evening
sky on Saturday October 4 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:00
(7:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. Mercury is the brightest object above the western horizon.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Mercury
slowly heads towards the horizon in the evening sky but remains
readily visible above the western horizon. It is now easy to see from
half an
hour after sunset to an hour after sunset, when the zippy
planet is in reasonably dark skies.

The western horizon still has a long string of bright objects making an
interesting (if battered) line in the sky. Spica, Mercury, Saturn, Mars and Antares.
The line is topped off by the hook that is the tail of the Scorpion,
embedded with clusters and nebula (and comet C/2013 A1, see below).

Mercury is easy to see in the early evening. Although it is now
heading for the horizon, it still draws away from Spica.

Evening
sky on Sunday October 5 looking west as seen from Adelaide at
21:00
(9:00 pm) ACDST in South Australia. Mars is close to Antares and the Moon. Saturn is under the head of Scorpius.
Comet C/2013 V5 is now in dark skies and may be visible near Saturn. Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Mars
is easily seen in the western evening sky, setting just before midnight. Mars was
at opposition, when it
is biggest and brightest, on the 9th of April, and
is still
readily distinguishable as the bright red/orange object above the western horizon in the early evening.

Mars is in the constellation
of Scorpius. It starts the week near the red star Antares (which means
rival of Mars) then moves above and away as it heads towards the star clouds of Sagittarius. Mars forms a somewhat battered line with Antares, Saturn (and Spica and Mercury) towards the end of the week.

Saturn
is in the early western evening sky, and was at opposition
on June 11th. Saturn
is visible in the early evening, setting just before 10 pm local time. Saturn is still high enough
from twilight for decent telescopic observation for a short while.

Saturn is in Libra near the head
of the constellation of the Scorpion and forms a line with Mercury,
Spica, Mars and Antares.

Comet C/2013 V5
has passed perihelion and is still surviving. It is
visible in very strong binoculars and medium sized telescopes as it rises higher into
darker skies. While it is leaving behind the twilight the increasing
Moonlight will make it more difficult to see this week. More detailed viewing maps
suitable for
binoculars are here.

Morning sky on Sunday October 5 looking north-east as seen from
Adelaide
at 5:00 am ACDST. Jupiter is above the north-east horizon. (click
to embiggen).

Jupiter
rises higher in the morning
twilight, and now is easy to see above the
horizon at twilight. During the week Jupiter climbs higher and becomes
easier to see as the brightest object above the north-eastern horizon.

Comet C/2012 K1 Panstarrs is rising higher in the morning sky and should be readily visible in 10x50 binoculars as a fuzzy dot with a stubby tail.

Evening
sky on Sunday October 5 looking west as seen from Adelaide at
21:00
(9:00 pm) ACDST in South Australia. Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring is in the tail of the Scorpion.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring
is high in the the evening sky, and is mow in the tail of the Scorpion. At
magnitude 8.8 it is now only visible in a small (or larger) telescope. The comet is
located in a beautiful patch of sky, passing through some rich stellar fields. However, it will become hard to see as the
Moon waxes. A printable black and white chart suitable for binoculars is
here. The large circle is the field of view of 10x50 binoculars. On the 5th the comet is binocular range of Ptolemy's Cluster.

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially
with Mars and Saturn prominent in the early evening sky. If you don't have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Total Lunar Eclipse, October 8, 2014

Eastern horizon as seen from Sydney on 8 October at 7:57 pm AEDST. The eclipse is just about to begin. Click to embiggen

Eastern horizon as seen from Adelaide on 8 October at 8:09 pm ACDST . The eclipse is just starting. Click to embiggen

Eastern horizon as seen from Perth on 8 October at 6:48 pm AWST. The eclipse is about halfway to totality. Click to embiggen

Above the North-Eastern horizon as seen from Sydney on 8 October at 9:55 pm AEDST. The eclipse is at its maximum extent . Click to embiggen

North-Eastern horizon as seen from Adelaide on 8 October at 8:55 pm ACDST. The total eclipse has just begun . Click to embiggen

Eastern horizon as seen from Perth on 8 October at 7:20 pm AWST. The total eclipse is just about to end. Click to embiggen

On the early evening of 8 October there there be a total eclipse of the
Moon, the second of two visible from Australia this year (you can see pictures from the April eclipse here). The 8 October
eclipse starts at twilight in the eastern and central states
and finishes in dark skies. Western Australia sees the Moon rise partly eclipsed, maximum eclipse occurs shortly after civil twilight, and totality finishes after nautical twilight. See timings table below.

You don't need special filters or fancy equipment to watch the lunar eclipse, you just need your eyes and somewhere comfortable to sit and watch. Binoculars or a telescope are a plus, but not necessary.
A guide to taking photos of the eclipse is here.

On the East coast, the eclipse starts after nautical twilight (an hour after sunset), when the sky is quite dark at 7:15 pm AEST (8:15 pm AEDST) and Totality begins after astronomical twilight has finished at 8:25 pm AEST (9:25 pm AEDST), so the Moon will appear to be a burnished copper disk in a dark sky full of stars. As totality fades you will see the stars extinguish.

In the central states the eclipse stars before nautical twilight 6:45 pm ACST (7:45 pm ACDST) and Totality begins after just after astronomical twilight has finished at 7:55 pm ACST (8:55 pm ACDST). They will also see the eclipsed Moon in all its coppery glory and the stars fade as the Moon returns.

In WA, although most of the eclipse occurs in the twilight, it will still be
interesting to watch. Moon rises partly eclipsed, and Totality starts just after the sun sets (6:25 pm AWST), and maximum totality is during civil twilight and lasts until just after nautical twilight. The eclipsed Moon at twilight has an entirely
different look to a normal rising Moon with the pearly light replaced
with a coppery-red glow.

You will need a flat, clear horizon to see the early parts of the eclipse from WA. Otherwise for the rest of the states the eclipse occurs reasonably high in the sky as is good viewing from almost anywhere.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

The Sky This Week - Thursday September 25 to Thursday October 2

The First Quarter Moon is Thursday October 2. Mercury, the bright star Spica and the crescent Moon form a triangle in the sky on the 26th. The crescent Moon then visits Saturn on the 28th. Mars climbs the body of the Scorpion and is close to Antares from the 28th to the 30th. The waxing Moon is close to Mars on the 29th and 30th. Jupiter
becomes more prominent in the morning sky. Comets C/2013 A1 Siding
Spring and C/2013 V5 are in the reach of small telescopes.

The First Quarter Moon is Thursday October 2.

Evening
sky on Saturday September 20 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:00
(7:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. Mercury is close to the bright star Spica.
Comet C/2013 V5 may be visible in the twilight not far from Mercury. Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Mercury slowly heads towards the horizon in the evening sky but is still readily visible above the western horizon. It is now easy to see from half an
hour after sunset to an hour and a half after sunset, when the zippy planet is in dark skies.

The western horizon now has a long string of bright objects making an
interesting line in the sky. Mercury, Spica, Saturn, Mars and Antares.
The line is topped off by the hook that is the tail of the Scorpion,
embedded with clusters and nebula (and comet C/2013 A1, see below).

Mercury is easy to see in the early evening now. although it is now heading for the horizon, it still draws away from Spica. On the 26th Mercury, Spica and the crescent Moon make an attractive triangle in the evening sky..

Comet C/2013 V5 is still surviving, but has not yet reached preihelion yet. It is visible in strong binoculars and small telecopes as it rises higher into darker skies. More detailed viewing maps suitable for
binoculars are here.

Evening
sky on Monday September 29 looking west as seen from Adelaide at
20:00
(8:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. Mars is close to Antares and the Moon. Saturn is under the head of Scorpius.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Mars
is easily seen in the western evening sky, setting just before midnight. Mars was
at opposition, when it
is biggest and brightest, on the 9th of April, and
is still
readily distinguishable as the bright red/orange object above the western horizon in the early evening.

Mars is in the constellation
of Scorpius. It forms a line with the red star Antares (which means
rival of Mars) and
Saturn (and Spica and Mercury) at the beginning of the week. During the it climbs towards Antares, coming closest to the bright red star between the 28th and the 30th. On the 29th and 30 the waxing Moon is close to Mars. .

Saturn
is in the early western evening sky, and was at opposition
on June 11th. Saturn
is visible in the early evening, setting just before 10 pm local time. Saturn is still high enough
from twilight for decent telescopic observation for a short while.

Saturn is in Libra near the head
of the constellation of the Scorpion and forms a line with Mercury, Spica, Mars and Antares.On the 28th the crescent Moon is close to Saturn.

Morning sky on Saturday September 27 looking north-east as seen from
Adelaide
at 5:00 am ACST. Jupiter is above the north-east horizon. (click
to embiggen).

Jupiter
rises higher in the morning
twilight, and now is easy to see above the
horizon at twilight. During the week Jupiter climbs higher and becomes
easier to see as the brightest object above the north-eastern horizon.

Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring
is rising higher the the evening sky, being highest around midnight. It
is currently located just above the Southern Cross. At
magnitude 8.8 it is now only visible in a small telescope. The comet is located in a beautiful patch of sky, but will become hard to see as the Moon waxes. A printable black and white chart suitable for binoculars is here. The large circle is the field of view of 10x50 binoculars.

Evening
sky on Monday September 29 looking west as seen from Adelaide at
20:00
(8:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring is in the tail of the Scorpion.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially
with Mars and Saturn prominent in the early evening sky. If you don't have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Mercury comes close to Spica , 20 and 21 September, 2014

Evening
sky on Friday September 20 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:30
(7:30 pm) ACST in South Australia. (click to embiggen to get a better view)

Evening
sky on Sunday September 21 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:00
(7:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. (click to embiggen to get a better view)

Mercury has finally caught up to Spica and passed it. The pair were closest on the 20th, hoever due to fatherly taxi duties I could only get the pair when they were just about to sink into the murk of the horizon. Tonight was better, as Mercury began to pull away from Spica.

In all the ages Mercuy and Spica are the bottom pair, with Mercury on the left. Also in the images are Mars and Saturn. Near the middle right is the pair of alpha Librae with Saturn above it.
Then up the top is the two bright objects, the star Dschubba with Mars
just above it. the red Star Antares is near the top in both images.

Mercury closes in on Spica. 19 September 2014

Evening
sky on Friday September 19 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:00
(7:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. (click to embiggen to get a better view)

Three bright planets are in this image.

Mercury is close to the bright star Spica. They are the bottom pair, with Mercury the lowest of the two. Near the middle right is the pair of alpha Librae with Saturn above it. Then up the top is the two bright objects, the star Dschubba with Mars just above it.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Mars Meets Dschubba, September 18, 2014

Evening
sky on Thursday September 18 looking west as seen from Adelaide at
21:30
(9:30 pm) ACST in South Australia. Mars is close to Dschubba, the middle star in the head of the Scorpion (click to embiggen).

After last nights beautiful clear sky, when I was attending EldestOne and MiddleOne's school dinner, tonight was cloudy and slightly rainy. There was a short break in the cloud when I captured this photo of Mars and the star Dschubbaclose together, giving Scorpio a rather differnt apperance.

I was trying to put together an animation of the close approach, but my plans was partly ruined by several days of cloud. Below is the not so good version I managed to stitch together. The final image in the stack was taken too close to the horizon and under poor cloud conditions to stack properly, sadly. Still not too bad though.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

The Sky This Week - Thursday September 18 to Thursday September 25

The New Moon is Wednesday September 24. Mercury meets
the bright star Spica. Mars enters the head of the Scorpion. Mars and Saturn are prominent in the evening sky
forming a line with Mercury and two bright stars. Jupiter
becomes more prominent in the morning sky and is visited by the Moon on the 20th. Comets C/2013 A1 Siding
Spring and C/2013 V5 are in the reach of small telescopes.

The New Moon is Wednesday September 24. The Moon is at apogee (furthest from the Earth) on the 20th.

Evening
sky on Saturday September 20 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:00
(7:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. Mercury is close to the bright star Spica.
Comet C/2013 V5 may be visible in the twilight not far from Mercury. Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Mercury
climbs higher in the evening sky and is now readily visible above the western horizon. It is now easy to see from half an
hour after sunset to an hour and a half after sunset, when the zippy planet is in dark skies.

The western horizon now has a long string of bright objects making an
interesting line in the sky. Mercury, Spica, Saturn, Mars and Antares.
The line is topped off by the hook that is the tail of the Scorpion, embedded with clusters and nebula (and comet C/2013 A1, see below).

Mercury is easy to see in the early evening now. It is still climbing rapidly in the sky, and will be less than a finger width from Spica, on the 20th and 21st. On the 22nd Mercury will be at its highest in the evening sky, and will head towards the horizon after this.

Comet C/2013 V5 is brightening but rapidly becomes lost in the morning twilight. If it survives it's passage of the Sun it will reappear on the evening sky by the weekend. It may be visible to the unaided eye, but should be visible in binoculars if it survives. More detailed viewing maps suitable for binoculars are here.

Evening
sky on Thursday September 18 looking west as seen from Adelaide at
22:00
(10:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. Mars is close to Dschubba and Saturn is under the head of Scorpius.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Mars
is easily seen in the western evening sky, setting just before midnight. Mars was
at opposition, when it
is biggest and brightest, on the 9th of April, and
is still
readily distinguishable as the bright red/orange object above the western horizon in the early evening.

Mars is in the constellation
of Scorpius. It forms a line with the red star Antares (which means
rival of Mars) and
Saturn (and Spica and Mercury). At the beginning of the week it is half a finger-width from the middle
star of the Scorpions head, Dschubba. Thereafter it climbs towards Antares.

Saturn
is in the early western evening sky, and was at opposition
on June 11th. Saturn
is visible in the early evening, setting just after 10 pm local time. . Saturn is still high enough
from twilight for decent telescopic observation for a few hours.

Saturn is in Libra near the head
of the constellation of the Scorpion and forms a line with Mercury, Spica, Mars and Antares.

Morning sky on Saturday September 20 looking north-east as seen from
Adelaide
at 5:30 am ACST. Jupiter is above the north-east horizon and close to the crescent Moon. (click
to embiggen).

Jupiter
rises higher in the morning
twilight, and now is easy to see above the
horizon at twilight. During the week Jupiter climbs higher and becomes
easier to see as the brightest object above the north-eastern horizon.

On the mornings of the 20thand 21st the crescent Moon is close to Jupiter.

Evening
sky on Saturday September 20 looking West as seen from Adelaide at
22:00
(10:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring is
above the tail of the Scorpion.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring
is rising higher the the evening sky, being highest around midnight. It
is currently located just above the Southern Cross. While at
magnitude 8.4 it should be visible in binoculars, it is likely that you
will need a small telescope to see it until the waning Moon leaves
the evening sky early in the week. A printable black and white chart suitable for binoculars is here. The large circle is the field of view of 10x50 binoculars.

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially
with Mars and Saturn prominent in the early evening sky. If you don't have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.

Aurora Watch Friday 12 September, 2014

A double impact is expected from a glancing blow from a Coronal Mass Ejection from an M class flare, and a nearly full on impact from a CME from an X class flare during this coming Friday.

The Australian IPS has released an aurora watch for Friday (12 September) to early Saturday (13 September). If aurora occur, this may be visible in Tasmania, New Zealand, and possibly Southern Vic,
WA and Southern South Australia.

If conditions are right aurora might even extend further north. However, geomagnetic storms are fickle, and the storm may arrive in daylight or well after Moon rise, or may fizzle out entirely .. or might just be spectacular.

Depending on when the incoming coronal Mass Ejection from the X-class flare strikes, we may see Minor Storm to Major Storm periods in the late evening to early morning. At the moment the prediction is for the X class CME to strike around 10 pm AEST (+/- 7 hours!).

The Moon is waning after full Moon on the 8th, so the skies will be fairly dark until Moon rise around 10:00 pm. As always look to the south for shifting red/green glows, recently beams have been reported too. As usual, dark sky sites will have the best chance of seeing anything, and always allow around 5 minutes for your eyes to become dark adapted.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Comet C/2013 V5 Oukaimeden in September 2014

Morning sky facing east showing the path of comet C/2013 V5 (and C/2012 K1) as seen from Adelaide at astronomical twilight from 10-20 September. Printable B & W map. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in the southern hemisphere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen and print.

GIF animation showing the path of comet C/2013 V5as seen from Adelaide at astronomical twilight in the morning from 10-20 September. Simulated in Stellarium. Click to embiggen

Evening sky facing west showing the path of comet C/2013 V5 (and C/2013 A1and Mars) as seen from Adelaide at astronomical twilight from 18-30
September. Printable B & W map. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in the southern hemisphere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen and print.

GIF animation showing the path of comet C/2013 V5as seen from Adelaide
at astronomical twilight in the evening from 19-30 September. Simulated
in Stellarium. Click to embiggen

Should be is the issue, at the moment the comet is rather diffuse and competing with the bright Moonlight, in the next couple of weeks the light from the waning Moon fades, but the comet approaches the horizon rapidly, coming deeper into the murk near the horizon and harder to see.

By the 20th, it is lost to the morning skies, but may reappear in the evening skies (there is a chance it will break up when it is closest to the Sun). It will rapidly rise in the evening skies (if it has survived) it might be bright enough to (just) see with the unaided eye. Again, in binoculars it will look like a fuzzy dot, possibly with a short tail. it will then rapidly fade. With the waxing Moon brightening the sky will be brightening as the comet fades, making it harder to follow by the end of the month.

Binocular map of C/2013 V5 in the morning. The circle is the field of view of 10x50 binoculars. Click to embiggen and print.

Binocular map of C/2013 V5 in the evening. The circle is the field of view of 10x50 binoculars. Click to embiggen and print.

There are few obvious signpost to locate the comet in the morning sky, initially scanning east of Procyon with binoculars should be helpful, but care attention to the maps (using a red light torch to not destroy your night vision) will probably be needed to find this comet in binoculars. Decent sized telescope will have no problem until the comet gets too closer to the horizon.

Morning sky on Saturday September 13 looking north-east as seen from
Adelaide
at 5:30 am ACST. Jupiter is above the horizon and comet C/2013 V5 is east of Procyon. (click
to embiggen).

Southern Skywatch September, 2014 edition is now out!

The Moon looking north-west at 7:00 pm ACST in Adelaide on 26 September. Mercury Spica and the Moon form a triangle in the Sky, while comet C/2013 V5 rises above them (dimly). Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the
equivalent local time.

The September edition of Southern Skywatch is now up. This month features some nice planetary planetary action this month with Mercury close to Spica, and Mars coming close to Antares. Comet C/2013 V5 may become easy to see in binoculars.

Jupiter rises higher in the morning twilight and is near the Moon on the 20th.

Mars is obvious in the western evening sky. Mars is near Antares on the 28th.

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

The Sky This Week - Thursday September 11 to Thursday September 18

The Last Quarter Moon is Tuesday September 16. Mercury climbs towards the bright star Spica. Mars and Saturn are prominent in the evening sky forming a line with Mercury and two bright stars. Jupiter
becomes more prominent in the morning sky. Comets C/2013 A1 Siding
Spring and C/2013 V5 are in the reach of small telescopes.

The Last Quarter Moon is Tuesday September 16.

Evening
sky on Saturday September 13 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 19:00
(7:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. Mercury is now reasonably high above the horizon in the early evening.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Mercury
climbs higher in the evening sky and is now readily visible above the western horizon. It is now easy to see from half an
hour after sunset to an hour and a half after sunset, when the zippy planet is in dark skies.

The western horizon now has a long string of bright objects making an interesting line in the sky. Mercury, Spica, Saturn, Mars and Antares. The line is topped off by the hook that is the tail of the Scorpion, embeed with clusters and nebula.

Mercury is climbing rapidly in the sky, coming closer to Spica, next week they will be less than a finger-width apart.

Evening
sky on Saturday September 13 looking west as seen from Adelaide at
22:00
(10:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. Mars and Saturn are under the head of Scorpius.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Mars
is easily seen in the western evening sky, setting just before midnight. Mars was
at opposition, when it
is biggest and brightest, on the 9th of April, and
is still
readily distinguishable as the bright red/orange object above the western horizon in the early evening.

Mars is in the constellation
of Scorpius. It forms a line with the red star Antares (which means rival of Mars) and
Saturn (and Spica and Mercury). Over the week Mars draws close to the head of the Scorpion. By the end of the week it is close to the middle star of the Scorpions head, Dschubba.

Saturn
is in the early western evening sky, and was at opposition
on June 11th. Saturn
is visible most of the evening. Saturn is high enough
from twilight for decent telescopic observation for a few hours and sets just before 11pm local time.

Saturn is in Libra near the head
of the constellation of the Scorpion and forms a line with Mercury, Spica, Mars and Antares.

Morning sky on Saturday September 13 looking north-east as seen from
Adelaide
at 5:30 am ACST. Jupiter is above the horizon and comet C/2013 V5 is east of Procyon. (click
to embiggen).

Jupiter
rises higher in the morning
twilight, and now is easy to see above the
horizon at twilight. During the week Jupiter climbs higher and becomes
easier to see as the brightest object above the north-eastern horizon.

Comet C/2013 V5 is brightening and may become visible to the unaided eye (just) later
in the month. Now you may need a small telescope to see it. Although it is
magnitude 6.6 and should currently be visible in binoculars, its diffuse
nature and the light of the waning Moon may make it difficult to see over the next few days.

Evening
sky on Saturday September 13 looking South as seen from Adelaide at
22:00
(10:00 pm) ACST in South Australia. Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring is above the Southern Cross, heading for the tail of the Scorpion.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring
is rising higher the the evening sky, being highest around midnight. It
is currently located just above the Southern Cross. While at
magnitude 8.4 it should be visible in binoculars, it is likely that you
will need a small telescope to see it until the waning Moon leaves
the evening sky early in the week.

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially
with Mars and Saturn prominent in the early evening sky. If you don't have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.

Saturday, September 06, 2014

NEO 2014 RC flys by on 7-8 September, 2014

NEO 2014 RC as seen from Siding Springs Observatory from 1:15 am 8
September - 5:15 am (15:15 - 19:15 UT 7 September). The crosses mark
the position of the asteroid every 5 minutes. Positions calculated
in Horizon Track from JPL horizons data. click to embiggen.

Near Earth Asteroid 2014 RC will
come close to Earth on 18:00 UT 7 September at distance of 0.0003 AU
(around 0.15 Earth-Moon distances). It has an estimated diameter
of 20m. It is brightest at 17:15 UT though.

The asteroid is currently magnitude 19, and will be a reasonably mag 11.2 at closest approach, despite its small size.

The asteroid is well placed for southern observers, and will be relatively bright (magnitude 13 to 11) from midnight on. Imaging this may be difficult as the asteooid is moving too fast to track. OIndeed you will need a widefield objective to see the asteroid falsh past at cloest approach around 3 am on Sunday. .

NEO
2014 RC as seen from Siding Springs Observatory from 2:50 am 8
September - 3:50 am (16:50 - 17:50 UT 7 September). The crosses mark
the position of the asteroid every 5 minutes.

Positions calculated
in Horizon Track from JPL horizons data. The circles mark the different
location of the Asteroid im MPC (2014 RC) and JPL (2014 RA) data click
to embiggen.

NEO 2014 RC passes from Aquarius through Sculptor and Phoenix
to Eriadanus.

The asteroid is visible from start of astronomical twilight in the
evening of the 7 September local time (magnitude 14) until end of
astronomical twilight on the 8th (local time).

You will need to use a topocentric ephemeris and camp
out on the asteroid track.

There is a substantial parallax effect (gretaer than one defree 1
degree), so unless your planetarium program is able to cope with
close parallax (most can't), you will need to work from topocentric
coordinates. You will need your latitude and longitude for an accurate ephemeris from you position.

The ISS zooms past Saturn, Mars and Antares

The ISS flies past (from bottom to top) Saturn, Mars and Antares on the evening of 6 September. Stack of 3x15 second images. Images taken at 400 ASA with my Canon IXUS, stacked in ImageJ (SUMMED). Click to embiggen for a better view of the planets and stars.

After a long spell of missing the International Space Station (no passes, cloud, driving kids about), tonight's bright pass did not disappoint.

A beautifly clear sky, slightly pale from moonlight. The ISS climed up past Acturus, brightening as it went, the quiclly falsed past Saturn, Mars, throgh the head of the Scorpion, past Antares then glided over the Southern sky.

Very nice indeed. I should have used a shorter exposure, as the ISS rapidly shot through the Scorpion, but here is a 3 frame animated GIF of the flyover.

Friday, September 05, 2014

Catch a Series of Bright International Space Station Passes (5-9 September 2014)

The ISS passes through the Southern Cross, as seen from Adelaide on the evening of Saturday 6 September
at 19:23 ACST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a
bright dot), click to embiggen.

The ISS passes near the Southern Cross, as seen from Melbourne on the evening of Saturday 6 September
at 19:53 AEST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a
bright dot), click to embiggen.

The ISS passes through the Southern Cross, as seen from Perth on the evening of Saturday 6 September
at 19:24 AWST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a
bright dot), click to embiggen.

All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Saturday 6 September for Adelaide.

All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Saturday 6 September for Melbourne.

All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Saturday 6 September for Perth.

Starting tonight there are a series of bright evening passes of the
International Space Station lasting for 4 days. For many places in Southern Australia
this series has the ISS gliding either above or under the Saturn and Mars, depending on where you are, on Saturday September 6. Brisbane also has a bright pass near Saturn and Mars at 18:17 AEST, while in Sydney the bright pass of 18:18 AEST goes nowhere near the planets but comes close to the bright star Altair.

Some of the passes are very short although
bright as the ISS enters Earth's shadow, but it is
interesting to see the ISS wink out abruptly.

When and what you will see is VERY location dependent, so you need to use either Heavens Above or CalSky
to get site specific predictions for your location (I'm using
Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth as examples, for example, the view from
Melbourne and Adelaide is a bit different to Perth on the
night of the 6th). In Ballarat the ISS is just above Saturn, sites just south may See the ISS pass over Saturn.

Start looking several minutes before the pass is going to start to get
yourself oriented and your eyes dark adapted. Be patient, on the night
there may be slight differences in the time of the ISS appearing due to
orbit changes not picked up by the predictions. The ISS will be moving
reasonably fast when it passes near Mars and Saturn, so Melbourne viewers should be alert as it enters
Earth's shadow very quickly, ending the view.